IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Riverside County will pursue building a 32-acre medical campus next to the Riverside County Regional Medical Center.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to negotiate with a private real estate firm that will put together a development plan for that project, according to a report in The Press-Enterprise.
Board members also voted 5-0 to develop an electronic records system, Epic, that will help deliver medical care more quickly and efficiently at the medical center. It will also share patient data with other medical providers.
Epic will cost about $53 million and take three years to put in place. The county’s goal is to take a more regional approach to providing medical care, the report stated.
The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, has brought health coverage to more people, forcing Riverside County Regional to be more competitive with other Inland healthcare providers in the battle for revenue.
For years, the county-owned medical center in Moreno Valley has served as a safety net for the region’s low-income residents. It’s also suffered major financial issues, at one point losing up to $1 million week.
To stem that tide, the board hired an interim chief executive officer who specializes in reviving struggling hospitals. It also spent $26 million on a consulting firm that helped the facility reduce its costs, enough so that the facility is profitable again.
The medical campus, which would be built through public and private partnerships, would make Riverside County Regional more attractive to insurers and patients, the report stated.
